DeMar DeRozan is OUT for Tonight’s Game in Portland

Initially entering the day as questionable on the injury report, the Chicago Bulls have ruled out DeMar DeRozan for tonight’s contest in Portland (h/t K.C. Johnson).

The team’s second-leading scorer played just 20 minutes on Wednesday against the 76ers due to a quad strain. DeRozan has been playing through the injury throughout the regular season, even missing time with discomfort back in January and February.

He chose not to speak with reporters after the game, but there was hope inside the locker room that isn’t wasn’t anything serious. The Bulls were also losing in a blowout fashion to Philly earlier that night, which could have played at least a small role in the team’s decision to end DeRozan’s night early.

Still, it’s clear the injury is bothering him enough to now miss his seventh game of the regular season. With the Bulls in the thick of a tight Play-In Tournament race, one can only hope that the Bulls expect this to be nothing more than a one-game absence.

Even then, however, there will undoubtedly be concerns about whether DeRozan can perform like himself. We’ve watched him shoot in an uncharacteristically inefficient fashion at times while playing through this injury (he was 0-7 against the 76ers), and the Bulls can’t afford much of a drop-off from him if they hope to continue this run.